Chief negotiator Carlos Sorreta (left) greets US Ambassador Eric John during the start of their meeting at the Department of National Defence headquarters in Quezon City yesterday.
MANILA: The Philippines and the United States began talks yesterday aimed at allowing a bigger US military presence on the soil of its key Asian ally, amid tensions with China.
The talks aim to draw up rules for more rotational, or temporary, deployments of US forces and military assets in the Philippines.
The Philippines has been looking to the United States for military and political support as part of efforts to protect its claims to South China Sea waters from an increasingly assertive China.
Although officials did not name China yesterday, President Benigno Aquino’s office said a bigger US presence would help to build the Philippine military’s capabilities.
“We want to build up a minimum credible defence. We understand that when the modalities have been thrashed out, it will help towards that,” presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte told reporters.
In a statement on the opening of the talks, the lead Philippine negotiator also highlighted the importance of them to defending the country’s territory.
“We would like to assure the Filipino people that your government is committed to defending and protecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Assistant Foreign Secretary Carlos Sorreta said.
Eric John, a senior US State Department negotiator, is leading the talks for the American side.
The opening round of the talks were for one day. Further rounds are expected in the coming weeks and months. The Philippines has said it wants the deal concluded before the end of the year.
The Philippines had hosted tens of thousands of US soldiers at two bases north of Manila, but they were forced to leave in 1992 after the Senate voted to end their lease contracts amid strong anti-American sentiment.
A new agreement that went into force in 1999 allowed US troops to return to the Philippines for joint military exercises involving several thousand members of the US military every year.
US special forces have also been rotating through the southern Philippines since 2002 to help Filipino soldiers against Islamic militants, with the maximum number there at any one time believed to be about 600.
The envisaged deal would see many more exercises, although the Philippines has insisted it will not allow a permanent US presence. This would require a change to the constitution.
Sorreta said the deal would be a “milestone” in the country’s strategic ties with the US especially in terms of national defence.
He also said the public can expect to be informed of details on each round of talks through the media.
The Philippines has accused China of building its military presence in the South China Sea in recent years.
China claims most of the sea, including waters close to the shores of its neighbours such as the Philippines.
While the United States has insisted it does not take sides in the dispute, it has been seeking to rebuild its military footprint in the Philippines as part of President Barack Obama’s strategic “pivot” to Asia.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said the negotiations were nothing but a “masquerade” that would formalise US use of the Philippines as a military base.
“The plan to grant the US greater military access to local ports and infrastructure and extending rights to set up its own facilities has long been agreed upon by the Aquino government and the US military,” CPP said in a statement.
The group said the arrangement was clinched during the Strategic Defence Dialogue held in Washington in January 2012 right after the US declared its strategy to pivot towards Asia.
“Considering that the US has long been granted access by the Aquino regime, the current round of negotiations will likely result in allowing the US to have exclusive access to certain facilities, which is a step further in formally allowing the return of the US military bases,”
CPP said.
Officials have denied that the framework agreement would lead to a permanent presence of US troops in the country. They have also clarified that the deal would not involve the establishment of new US bases.
CPP said expanding the US presence in the Philippines would violate the country’s sovereignty.
“The Filipino people must firmly unite to oppose and put an end to the permanent presence of interventionist US troops in the Philippines and the rotational docking of US warships,” it added.
Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said rotational presence was a convenient way of circumventing the constitution, which bars the establishment of new foreign bases.
“One batch leaves while another takes their place. That’s still permanent and continuing presence, or de facto basing that violates the constitution. We are likely to get the shorter end of the stick in these negotiations,” Reyes said in a statement.
AFP & tHE PHILIPPINE STAR
